This is the second post in our Teacher success stories series. The first one was about Irma Horvath, who despite being a NNEST, landed a great job with the BC in Malaysia, and is now training other teachers. You can read it here.

This time we move to Italy, where Larissa set up her own flourishing teaching business.She’s a passionate blogger and you can find her blog here. So without much further ado, let’s hear how Larissa’s managed to succeed despite the odds.

Larissa: “When I was asked to write this post I felt immediately so excited at the prospect of telling my experience in the teaching language business which wasn’t easy at all. Firstly, let me introduce myself.

Name: Larissa Albano.

Even though my name sounds Russian (my mother loved Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak), I’m an Italian born and bred. Well, I…

Chad is an American in his early twenties. He completed a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, but didn’t know what to do with his life after graduation. He got average grades in college, is reasonably smart, but lacks marketable skills. His choices after graduation are entry-level positions at a few local companies, but he doesn’t want to sit at a desk all day. Eventually, Chad hears about a friend who’s working as an English teacher in Japan. According to this friend, the salary is good, the women are beautiful, and the job is easy.

“Do you need teaching experience to get a job like that?” Chad asks his friend.

“No,” his friend replies. “You just need to be a native speaker of English.”

Chad is eventually hired in a similar school in Japan. He begins teaching classes. He is called “teacher.” He comes up with creative ideas for how to teach his…

Moonlit Beach 2

A large, original acrylic painting depicting a floating full moon over a beach as the tide comes in. Impressionistic in style this is the third ‘moonscape’ I have completed. The scene is depicted using strong colours: it is lightly textured.

Most people do not want too much adventure in their lives. Adventure means stepping out into the unknown and into the wild places of this world. It means abandoning the well-trodden, familiar, safe and conventional path in life. It means breaking out of your comfort zone and confronting your own fears, your own demons.

This article is for those people who do not conform to the herd mentality. The adventurers, the entrepreneurs, the mavericks, the wanderers, the vagabonds, the rebels and the dreamers. We are faced with the problem that going your own way in life is often a solitary road. Separating yourself from the majority of people who are sleepwalking their way through life is not easy. The path of least resistance is always there, and everyone will be constantly encouraging you to take it.

Growing up, I have never really felt Death within the proximity of my family or close friends. My paternal grandmother died when I was nine, but I never got to know her intimately so the funeral was a mere chance for me to play with my cousins from distant lands. No one I loved so dearly and known for a long time had ever died, so the only grief I knew came from heartache, betrayal and failure.

I would often study with a clinical detachment the bereavement of my acquaintances. One who lost her grandfather mourned for weeks by posting his picture and anecdotes about him on Facebook. Others would appear pale and shaken, the gaping emotional wounds all too visible on their faces. It is not to say that I am belittling their sorrow. Rather, I simply cannot comprehend it because it has not yet happened to me.

Yeah! yeah! so you get it, I’m not very happy
Sitting here throwing my thoughts at the lappy
Trying to make it sound valid, not trappy
As I explain once again why I’m feeling so crappy

Looking for ways to uphold my pretence
To stop feelings and thoughts from causing offence
To not only just rhyme, but also make sense
Whilst also still trying to sound quite intense
Exploration of heart and what’s brewing inside
Rolling with the waves and emotional tide
Wrestling with logic and linguistic pride
To present in a form that appears to just glide

So sit down and try it, just give it a go
Open your heart up and let the verse flow
Allow it some room and allow it to grow
And release all those things that you’d much rather show

If you liked Lord of the Rings, but wished there were more sassy, kick-butt female fighters, snag this book and dive in. This first book collects #1-5 in a series that has refreshingly strong, unrepentant, female characters that are taken straight from fantasy convention but with some definite twists.

Palisade is protected by several mercenary groups in addition to their local guard units. One of these groups, called The Rat Queens, is comprised of four females: Hannah, an Elven Mage, Violet, a Dwarven fighter, Betty, a Smidgen Thief, and Dee, a Human who can cast healing spells. They are a mix of races, sizes, and personalities that are distinct and not two dimensional. They love fighting, drinking, rabble rousing, and money, all in equal measure. They have a strong sense of who they are and they make no apologies.